By Charwayne Walker
Since the first sponsored Regional One-Day competition started in 1976, the Gillette Cup, only four batsmen have passed 150 in an innings; Johnson Charles 177, Chadwick Walton 169, Darnley Joseph 153 and Clayton Lambert 151.
But the million dollar question consistently being asked by die-hard Regional fans is who was the first player to score a Regional One-Day century on debut?
Well, the answer to that question is surprisingly not Brian Lara, Desmond Haynes, Roy Fredericks, Carl Hooper, Gordon Greenidge, Vivian Richards nor Richie Richardson.
It was Edward Alexton Lewis, younger brother of Leeward Islands and Antigua player, Enoch Lewis.
Edward Lewis’s 145 not out against Barbados at the Kensington Oval in 1985, led the Leewards Islands to a thrilling one-wicket victory over Barbados.
Another Leeward Islands and Antigua player, Wilden Cornwall, playing his first Regional One-Day match against Minnows USA in 1998 at Kensington Park in Jamaica, scored a pugnacious 126 while Trinidad’s Lendl Simmons, nephew of former West Indies opener and Coach Phil Simmons, made a fantastic Regional One-Day debut representing the West Indies U19s in 2003. Simmons slammed an even hundred against Guyana at the Antigua Recreational Ground in St. John’s.
Berbician Royston Crandon had a sensational entry to Regional One-Day cricket with a belligerent 101 on debut against the Windward Islands at the Tanteen Ground in Grenada in 2006.
